


Fallen

by Viqueen



Series: Shadan Adaar [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cuddles, F/M, Just a little scene, Solas is mildly guilty over wanting to blow up the world, Trespasser Spoilers, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 15:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8583130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viqueen/pseuds/Viqueen
Summary: Ficlet - The party takes a tumble while taking shelter in some ruins





	

Shadan glanced up at the dark sky as she ran, heavy clouds churning, wind whipping and pelting the party in sheets of rain. She was thankful for her coat’s heavy mantle, keeping the worst of the water from her back, but it did nothing for her head or the section of hair that kept flipping into her eyes. Why did her horns have to make hoods so impractical?

“In here!”, she shouted over the wind, finally spotting a ruined archway with a section of surviving roof.

Once under the relative cover she shook out her limbs to fling off excess water- doing her best not to flick Bull, Varric or Solas with anything more than what they were already drenched in. 

“Well,” she said with a false brightness, “that was fun.”

Solas smirked, seeming largely unperturbed by the weather, but Varric gave her with a withering look that made Bull laugh.

There was a crack of grinding stone and the ground shifted. Before any of them could register it happening the stone floor crumbled beneath their feet, dropping them into an angled chasm. The shaft echoed with shouts and grunts of impact as the party slid down, smacking into each other and the sides of the tunnel- when they came to a sudden stop. Shadan’s shoulder hit someone, her head clipping a rock as she tumbled across a dirt floor. Her head rang for a few moments, distantly registering the thuds of the others hitting the ground. Shadan gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, feeling a stone roll off her back. Everything hurt, her side and head feeling as if they had taken the brunt of every impact on the short trip down.

“Everyone okay?” she asked the darkness.

Varric coughed, “Im alive,” a pause, “Surprisingly.”

“As am I”, Solas answered. There was the sound of a frown in his tone and she could easily imagine the elf scowling at his surroundings as if the fall was a personal offense.

Bull groaned an affirmative, “You okay, Kadan?”

She saw his faint silhouette shaking its head as her eyes adjusted to the shadows. “Bumped by head, but I’m okay,” she stood up with a wince. Testing her legs, she was thankful nothing was twisted or broken. Conjuring up a flame in her palm, the new light flickered alongside the faint green glow in her opposite hand, illuminating the small hollow. Maybe a dozen long strides in length and half that across, the walls and ceiling looked to be made mostly of dirt, but a few aged stones in the floor, edges peeking up from under the earth, alluded to some intentional construction. Just another ruin then.

The others seemed unharmed, though Varric was seated fiddling over Bianca in the dim light. “Well, this was unexpected,” she muttered, walking over to give Varric more light, smiling down at his thankful glance. She looked up the broken hole they had fallen through, a flash of lightning illuminated little more of what her small flame did not reach. She didn’t think it was too far to the surface, they hadn’t fallen for very long, but it would be a struggle to climb in the dark, “Ideas?”

Solas padded up beside her, bare feet silent on the earthen floor, the runestone in his staff casting ghostly blue shadows across the sharp angles of his face. “I think it wise we stay here until the storm passes. We’re lucky that none of us were hurt in the first place.”

“Speak for yourself,” Varric muttered, gently reattaching one of Bianca’s struts.

“I shall take the first watch, Inquisitor.” Solas nodded.

“I can-” she paused when the elf gave her a pointed look, thin mouth curved upward, narrow eyes reflecting the poor light, shining like a wolf’s would peering from the shadows. “Or I can let you do it,” she chuckled, “Considering you can actually see in the dark.”

“A wise choice,” he chuckled.

Shadan looked over where Bull was feeling along the walls, frowning to himself. “Let’s try to get some rest since we’re stuck here. Solas, you get me in a few hours to relieve you.”

The elf gave an affirmative, seating himself beside Varric, summoning a small flame of his own to illuminate the dwarf’s work.

Extinguishing her flame, Shadan leaned against a far corner where she could see Solas and Varric and the bottom of the hole, just in case anything decided to follow them down. Sinking to her knees, she winced at the dull pain in her joints, sure that her skin was going to be colored with wide splotches of dark purple within the next day, but again, thankful that nothing was broken. Rubbing her head she sighed, setting her staff against her shoulder and started to lean back when Bull walked into the narrow nimbus of light around her from the Anchor. “Find anything?”

He shook his head, “No, none of the walls are uniform. Maybe a hallway that caved in?”

She hmm’d thoughtfully as he settled down to sit behind her. “I was thinking the same thing,” Shadan said, rolling her eyes indulgently as Bull took her staff and leaned it against the wall before wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back to rest between his knees.

“How’s your head?” he asked, a knuckle touching her chin.

She allowed him to turn her face up so he could check her, “I feel fine Bull, don’t worry.”

He made a thoughtful sound in his throat, thumb brushing gently over the tender spot on her forehead. “Well, next time, maybe let the elf lead us into the dark places.”

“Duly noted,” she chuckled. “Next time _you_ want to go dragon hunting and we get stuck in a summer storm, we’ll just let Solas lead.”

He rumbled an affirmative, burying his nose in her hair when she hugged his forearms to her chest. Her clothes and boots were still damp from the storm, but Bull’s heat was steadily seeping through the thick hide of her coat and she snuggled back against him. She felt more than heard his contented chuckle.

Varric glanced over at the two Vashoth, beyond the reach of Solas’ fire, their forms were highlighted by the lyrium lacing Shadan’s staff and the faint green glow from her palm.

“They make quite a pair,” Solas noted, voice soft so it did not echo against the earthen walls.

Varric smiled. He’d seen heroes, the world was full of them, but that- That was special. It was real. And he'd only seen something like it once before. Part of him logged away details and bits of inspired prose for the Inquisitor’s book, but another- He shook off the thought. “Yeah.”

Solas tilted his head the dwarf, he saw the melancholy there, happy for the Inquisitor to be sure but, “Do you have-”

Varric smirked, that showman’s smile easily settling back into place, “Don’t bother with me Chuckles, my love life is a mess, but it’s my mess.”

Solas acquiesced with a nod, looking back out over the darkness. “Our lives are often very short, likely briefer still with the paths we lead. With how uncertain the future-”, he shook his head. “Between making peace and having something more, I believe I know which I would choose. If given the opportunity.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Varric grunted, folding Bianca’s struts back in place and stood up. “Holler if you see anything.”

“Of course.” Solas extinguished his flame as the dwarf walked off to the opposite corner of the room. The faint glows from runestone and lyrium gradually lent little more than the faintest of silhouettes to the chamber’s occupants. He looked over at the Inquisitor laying in the arms of a man who had forsaken his people for the love of his men and, in no small part, for the feelings he held for her.

Solas felt pity for them.

The Inquisitor was a good woman and he had surprised himself the first time he honestly considered her a friend, but it made no difference. It would not matter if they succeeded against Corypheus in the end. This world was not meant to endure. Solas smothered the regret setting root in his heart at the prospect. His goals were not swayed and he would not falter.

Still…

Bull leaned down to whisper something in her ear, making Shadan wrinkle her nose as she grinned, lightly backhanding his shoulder even as she settled more securely into the fold of his arms.

It was a shame that they would all be dead when this was done.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m operating under the knowledge that Solas was totally gonna do the thing soon/immediately after Corypheus’ defeat if the Orb had NOT been broken. Since that was his plan. He only had to derail his plans two years after that to figure out another way to completely fuck up the world. But, y’know, at least he feels a LITTLE bad about it.


End file.
